In 1984, a real estate investment trust based in Chevy Chase, Md., announced plans for Town Centre Galleria at the southwest corner of College Boulevard and U.S. Highway 69 in Overland Park.

The 2.5 million-square-foot project — a mix of office, retail and hotel — was touted as Overland Park’s equivalent to Crown Center or the Country Club Plaza. Rivaling nearby Corporate Woods in size, it was to be built over 10 to 12 years.

Of course, the project never broke ground. But now, nearly 30 years later, a partnership led by Block Real Estate Services LLC is proposing a $350 million mixed-use development on the Galleria site, south of College Boulevard, and acreage to the north between College and Interstate 435. The group, BK Properties LLC, has an option to buy the land from B.F. Saul Real Estate Investment Trust and Dearborn LLC.

If rezoning and incentives are approved, the developers would close on the 137 acres and begin construction next year, said Keith Gooch, an Overland Park senior planner. He said the project calls for 1,751 apartment units, 585,500 square feet of office space and 32,000 square feet zoned for retail and other mixed uses.

Larry Winn III, chairman of the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce, said the city needs the office space.

“If you need 5,000 square feet, I can find it,” he said. “But don’t ask for more than 50,000 because it doesn’t exist.”

Mike Mayer, managing principal for Cassidy Turley’s Kansas City office, agreed. He said the Southern Johnson County submarket again absorbed more office space last quarter than the rest of the entire metro area — 366,000 square feet versus 341,000 square feet. But the submarket doesn’t offer much available Class A space and no large space. Thus, the office space now proposed for the Galleria site probably could be absorbed in four to six years, he said.

Winn, a retired lawyer, began representing B.F. Saul on the Galleria project in 1982. The Saul family, which owned Chevy Chase Bank, had taken the land back through foreclosure and planned to develop and hold it. But Winn said the project stalled because of the REIT’s attempt to get a co-developer to invest at Washington, D.C., land prices, difficulties landing retail and office anchors, and recessions. In addition, as the Galleria lingered, the market for the upscale retail it proposed was grabbed by others, such as Town Center Plaza in Leawood.

Winn and others said BK Properties’ mixed-use plan now makes more sense.

Through the years, B.F. Saul has been approached by several would-be developers, each with expertise in multifamily, retail or office. But accepting their offers would have required selling the land in pieces, said Tim Schaffer of RED Brokerage LLC.

“(BRES Managing Principal) Ken Block is uniquely qualified to take on a project like this because his firm has experience in multiple disciplines,” Schaffer said. “There are very few developers that can take down a tract of this size and absorb the land through development quickly enough to make carrying the ground at its true value work.”